Editing Nicomedia (section)

==History==
It was founded in 712–711 BC as a [[Megarian]] colony and was originally known as [[Astacus in Bithynia|Astacus]] ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|s|t|ə|k|ə|s}}; {{Langx|grc|Ἀστακός}}, 'lobster').<ref>{{cite book |title=Guide to Greece By Pausanias |year=1971 |editor=Peter Levi |page=[https://archive.org/details/guidetogreece00paus/page/232 232] |publisher=Harmondsworth] Penguin |isbn=0-14-044225-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/guidetogreece00paus/page/232 }}</ref> After being destroyed by [[Lysimachus]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The Hellenistic settlements in Europe, the islands, and Asia Minor |first=Getzel M.|last= Cohen |year=1995|page=400 |isbn=0-520-08329-6}}</ref> it was rebuilt by [[Nicomedes I of Bithynia]] in 264 BC under the name of Nicomedia, and has ever since been one of the most important cities in northwestern [[Asia Minor]]. The great military commander [[Hannibal|Hannibal Barca]] came to Nicomedia in his final years and committed suicide in nearby Libyssa ([[Diliskelesi]], [[Gebze]]). The historian [[Arrian]] was born there.

[[File:Byzantine - Belt Section with Medallions of Constantius II and Faustina - Walters 57527.jpg|thumb|This section of a belt depicting medallions honoring Constantius II and Faustina was minted in Nicomedia.<ref>{{cite web |publisher= [[The Walters Art Museum]]
 |url= http://art.thewalters.org/detail/27951
 |title= Belt Section with Medallions of Constantius II and Faustina}}</ref> The Walters Art Museum.]]
Nicomedia was the [[metropolis]] and capital of the Roman province of [[Bithynia]] under the [[Roman Empire]]. It is referenced repeatedly in [[Pliny the Younger]]'s [[Epistulae (Pliny)|Epistles]] to Trajan during his tenure as governor of Bithynia.<ref name="W.L. MacDonald 1976">{{cite news| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=nicomedia| title=Nicomedia NW Turkey| author=W.L. MacDonald| work=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites| publisher=Princeton University Press| year=1976}}</ref> Pliny, in his letters, mentions several public buildings of the city such as a senate-house, an aqueduct, a forum, a temple of [[Cybele]], and others, and speaks of a great fire, during which the place suffered much.<ref>[[Pliny the Younger]], ''[[Epistulae (Pliny)|Epist.]]'' 10.33.</ref> [[Diocletian]] made it the eastern capital city of the Roman Empire in 286 when he introduced the [[Tetrarchy]] system.

===Persecutions of 303===
Nicomedia was at the center of the [[Diocletianic Persecution]] of Christians which occurred under Diocletian and his [[Caesar (title)|Caesar]] [[Galerius]]. On 23 February 303 AD, the pagan festival of the [[Terminalia (festival)|Terminalia]], Diocletian ordered that the newly built church at Nicomedia be razed, its scriptures burnt, and its precious stones seized.<ref>{{cite book| title=Constantine & Eusebius| author=Timothy D. Barnes| date=1981| page=22}}</ref> The next day he issued his "First Edict Against the Christians," which ordered similar measures to be taken at churches across the Empire.

The destruction of the Nicomedia church incited panic in the city, and at the end of the month a fire destroyed part of Diocletian's palace, followed 16 days later by another fire.<ref name="Patricia Southern 2001">{{cite book| title=The Roman Empire: From Severus to Constantine| url=https://archive.org/details/romanempirefroms00sout| url-access=limited| author=Patricia Southern| year=2001| page=[https://archive.org/details/romanempirefroms00sout/page/n180 168]}}</ref> Although an investigation was made into the cause of the fires, no party was officially charged, but Galerius placed the blame on the Christians. He oversaw the execution of two palace [[eunuchs]], who he claimed conspired with the Christians to start the fire, followed by six more executions through the end of April 303. Soon after Galerius declared Nicomedia to be unsafe and ostentatiously departed the city for Rome, followed soon after by Diocletian.<ref name="Patricia Southern 2001"/>

===Later Empire===
[[File:Tetrarchy map3.jpg|thumb|Map of the [[Roman Empire]] during the [[Tetrarchy]] system, showing the dioceses and the four tetrarchs' zones of influence. Nicomedia was the eastern and most senior capital city, chosen by [[Diocletian]] who assumed the title ''Augustus of the East''.]]

Nicomedia remained as the eastern (and most senior) capital of the Roman Empire until co-emperor [[Licinius]] was defeated by [[Constantine the Great]] at the [[Battle of Chrysopolis]] ([[Üsküdar]]) in 324. Constantine mainly resided in Nicomedia as his interim capital city for the next six years, until in 330 he declared the nearby [[Byzantium]] (which was renamed [[Constantinople]]) the new capital. Constantine died in a royal villa in the vicinity of Nicomedia in 337. Owing to its position at the convergence of the Asiatic roads leading to the new capital, Nicomedia retained its importance even after the foundation of Constantinople.<ref>See C. Texier, ''Asie mineure'' (Paris, 1839); V. Cuenet, ''Turquie d'Asie'' (Paris, 1894).</ref>

A major [[Cecropius of Nicomedia#Earthquake of Nicomedia|earthquake]], however, on 24 August 358, caused extensive devastation to Nicomedia, and was followed by a fire which completed the catastrophe. Nicomedia was rebuilt, but on a smaller scale.<ref>See Ammianus Marcellinus 17.7.1–8</ref> In the sixth century under Emperor [[Justinian I]] the city was extended with new public buildings. Situated on the roads leading to the capital, the city remained a major military center, playing an important role in the Byzantine campaigns against the [[Caliphate]].<ref name="ODB">{{citation | editor-first = Alexander | editor-last = Kazhdan | title = [[Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]] | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | year = 1991 | isbn = 978-0-19-504652-6 | pages=1483–1484}}</ref>  From inscriptions we learn that in the later period of the empire Nicomedia enjoyed the honour of a [[Roman colony]].<ref>{{Cite DGRG|title=Nicomedeia}}</ref>

In 451, the local bishopric was promoted to a [[Metropolis of Nicomedia|Metropolitan see]] under the jurisdiction of the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kiminas|first=Demetrius|title=The Ecumenical Patriarchate|year=2009|publisher=Wildside Press LLC|isbn=978-1-4344-5876-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QLWqXrW2X-8C&pg=PA81|page=79}}</ref> The metropolis of Nicomedia was ranked 7th in the ''[[Notitiae Episcopatuum]]'' among the metropolises of the patriarchate.<ref>{{cite web|last=Terezakis|first=Yorgos|title=Diocese of Nicomedia (Ottoman Period)|url=http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=8729|publisher=Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία|access-date=13 November 2012}}</ref> In the eighth century the Emperor [[Constantine V]] established his court there for a time, when plague broke out in Constantinople and drove him from his capital in 746–47.<ref>David Turner, The Politics of Despair: The Plague of 746–747 and Iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire, The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 85 (1990), p. 428</ref> From the 840s on, Nicomedia was the capital of the ''[[Theme (Byzantine district)|thema]]'' of the ''[[Optimatoi]]''. By that time, most of the old, seawards city had been abandoned and is described by the Persian geographer [[Ibn Khordadbeh|Ibn Khurdadhbih]] as lying in ruins, with settlement restricted to the hilltop citadel.<ref name="ODB"/> In the 1080s, the city served as the main military base for [[Alexios I Komnenos]] in his campaigns against the [[Seljuk Turks]], and the [[First Crusade|First]] and [[Second Crusade|Second]] Crusades both encamped there.

The city was briefly held by the [[Latin Empire]] following the [[Siege of Constantinople (1204)|fall of Constantinople]] to the [[Fourth Crusade]] in 1204: in late 1206 the [[seneschal]] [[Thierry de Loos]] made it his base, converting the church of Saint Sophia into a fortress; however, the Crusader stronghold was subjected to constant raids by the [[Emperor of Nicaea]] [[Theodore I Laskaris]], during which de Loos was captured by Nicaean soldiers; by the summer of 1207 Emperor [[Henry of Flanders]] agreed to evacuate Nicomedia in exchange for de Loos and other prisoners Emperor Theodore held.<ref>[[Geoffrey de Villehardouin]], translated by M. R. B. Shaw, ''Joinville and Villehardouin: Chronicles of the Crusades'' (London: Penguin, 1963), pp. 147, 154–156</ref> The city remained in Byzantine control for over a century after that, but following the Byzantine defeat at the [[Battle of Bapheus]] in 1302, it was threatened by the rising [[Ottoman beylik]]. The city was twice besieged and blockaded by the Ottomans (in 1304 and 1330) before finally succumbing in 1337.<ref name="ODB"/>